2012, a Great Year to Study Social Media

It’s timely that I was taking a social media course this year when an election was held. Not any election, but a Presidential Election that involved Barack Obama, considered to have taken the lead in using social media to win an election. One outcome of the social media blitzes around elections is that many people are introduced to social media beyond just talking to friends on Facebook. By tracking polls, candidates and news around the election, people begin to see how social media can work for them. For example, if social media can help get a President elected, then what can it do for an individual looking for a job? The article below shows how educational institutions used the election to teach students about the use of social media. It also gave great examples of how people change their behavior around social media. For example, “unfriending” people because they did not agree with your own politics. The entire election was a great teaching platform for anyone wanting to learn more about social media.